Despite heavy unease amongst Davidson County Republicans, Gov. Pat McCrory confirmed Roger Younts on Monday to fill the seat of former House District 80 Rep. Jerry Dockham. Younts, 30, of the Holly Grove area, was sworn in by House Speaker Thom Tillis and will serve the remainder of Dockham’s term, which expires in 2014. Dockham resigned after taking a position with the North Carolina Utilities Commission. “I will strongly stand for the conservative values of Davidson County and pledge to deliver excellent constituent service,” Younts said. “The number one goal I will work toward is improving the economy and bringing in new jobs.”Younts said the tax reform bill will be a major step in improving the economy and generating job creation. “It will certainly allow taxpayers to keep more of their own money by lowering income and corporate tax rates,” Younts said. “The current plan being offered would lower the state’s tax burden from 44th in the nation to 17th.”Younts, a trust analyst with BB&T, was nominated by a 3-2 vote of a select group of the Davidson County Republican Party last week, a controversial decision some weighty Republicans called “unethical.”As the Republican Party’s treasurer, Younts legally cast one of the three affirmative votes that helped him win the seat. Younts and two others also voted not to let eligible voter and North Carolina Republican Party Hall of Fame member Dwight Story participate in the process. Story, who is most known for hosting candidate forums at Piedmont Crossing in Thomasville, was not able to attend Thursday night’s vote at Yarborough’s Restaurant because he was on a trip in Wytheville, Va., but he was scheduled to vote via telephone. Davidson County Republican Party Chairman Lance Barrett said state GOP officials, who helped oversee the voting process, told him prior to last week’s meeting that all eligible voters were agreeable with Story voting via telephone. Barrett said he and fellow party member Kenny Meredith also spoke with Younts personally the day before the meeting, and Younts said he was OK with story voting over the phone. Younts said that’s not the case. A plethora of county Republicans, including Davidson County Register of Deeds David Rickard, started reaching out to state officials after the vote, hoping the governor would delay his decision until he reviewed what happened. After learning about the governor’s decision on Monday, Barrett said the party is considering challenging the issue.“I’m surprised and disappointed that Gov. McCrory would confirm Roger, knowing that a letter of challenge may be forthcoming,” Barrett said. “It would have seemed prudent to wait until the letter arrived and then make a decision based on all available information.”Barrett said the party is considering all of its option, including the challenge, which would lay out the areas of concern from both a procedural and ethical standpoint. “There are several areas of concern the way the NCGOP handled the process, including possible outside influences,” Barrett said.Emails obtained last week showed that Barrett tried to move the meeting until later in the month, when all eligible voting members could be present. However, state GOP officials overruled, saying the majority of the voting members were polled and did not desire a postponement of the meeting. NCGOP Political Director Kim Canady and general counsel Michael McKnight helped oversee the voting process. NCGOP Chief of Staff Mike Rusher said last week the state party is confident the process was executed within the boundaries granted by state law and party rules. Late on Monday, Younts said there has been a lot of information to take in during a short period of time. However, he said he has received a lot of support.“It’s been uplifting to have received so many people calling to congratulate me, in particular Congressman (Richard) Hudson and Congresswoman (Virginia) Foxx,” Younts said. “It’s been really special.”

Nash Dunn can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 227, or at nash.dunn@the-dispatch.com. Follow Nash on Twitter: @LexDispatchNash